Roman History, Books I-III

by Livy

Preparations were made on both sides with the utmost vigour for a war very like a civil one, in a manner between parents and children, both being of Trojan stock: for from Troy came Lavinium, from Lavinium, Alba, and the Romans were descended from the stock of the Alban kings. However, the result of the war rendered the quarrel less distressing, for the struggle never came to regular action, and when the buildings only of one of the cities had been demolished, the two states were incorporated into one. The Albans first invaded the Roman territories with a large army. They pitched their camp not more than five miles from the city, and surrounded it with a trench, which, for several ages, was called the Cluilian trench, from the name of the general, till, by lapse of time, the name, as well as the event itself, was forgotten. In that camp Cluilius, the Alban king, died: the Albans created Mettius Fufetius dictator. In the meantime Tullus, exultant, especially at the death of the king, and giving out that the supreme power of the gods, having begun at the head, would take vengeance on the whole Alban nation for this impious war, having passed the enemy's camp in the night-time, marched with a hostile army into the Alban territory. This circumstance drew out Mettius from his camp: he led his forces as close as possible to the enemy; thence he despatched a herald and commanded him to tell Tullus that a conference was expedient before they came to an engagement; and that, if he would give him a meeting, he was certain he would bring forward matters which concerned the interests of Rome no less than of Alba. Tullus did not reject the offer: nevertheless, in case the proposals made should prove fruitless, he led out his men in order of battle: the Albans on their side marched out also. After both armies stood drawn up in battle array, the chiefs, with a few of the principal officers, advanced into the midst. Then the Alban began as follows: "That injuries and the non-restitution of property claimed according to treaty is the cause of this war, methinks I have both heard our king Cluilius assert, and I doubt not, Tullus, but that you allege the same. But if the truth must be told, rather than what is plausible, it is thirst for rule that provokes two kindred and neighbouring states to arms. Whether rightly or wrongly, I do not take upon myself to determine: let the consideration of that rest with him who has begun the war. As for myself, the Albans have only made me their leader for carrying on that war. Of this, Tullus, I would have you advised: how powerful the Etruscan state is around us, and around you particularly, you know better than we, inasmuch as you are nearer to them. They are very powerful by land, far more so by sea. Recollect that, directly you shall give the signal for battle, these two armies will be the object of their attention, that they may fall on us when wearied and exhausted, victor and vanquished together. Therefore, for the love of heaven, since, not content with a sure independence, we are running the doubtful hazard of sovereignty and slavery, let us adopt some method, whereby, without great loss, without much bloodshed of either nation, it may be decided which is to rule the other." The proposal was not displeasing to Tullus, though both from his natural bent, as also from the hope of victory, he was rather inclined to violence. After consideration, on both sides, a plan was adopted, for which Fortune herself afforded the means of execution.

It happened that there were in the two armies at that time three brothers born at one birth, neither in age nor strength ill-matched. That they were called Horatii and Curiatii is certain enough, and there is hardly any fact of antiquity more generally known; yet in a manner so well ascertained, a doubt remains concerning their names, as to which nation the Horatii, to which the Curiatii belonged. Authors incline to both sides, yet I find a majority who call the Horatii Romans: my own inclination leads me to follow them. The kings arranged with the three brothers that they should fight with swords each in defence of their respective country; assuring them that dominion would rest with those on whose side victory should declare itself. No objection was raised; the time and place were agreed upon. Before the engagement began, a compact was entered into between the Romans and Albans on these conditions, that that state, whose champions should come off victorious in the combat, should rule the other state without further dispute. Different treaties are made on different conditions, but in general they are all concluded with the same formalities. We have heard that the treaty in question was then concluded as follows, nor is there extant a more ancient record of any treaty. The herald asked King Tullus, "Dost thou command me, O king, to conclude a treaty with the pater patratus of the Alban people?" On the king so commanding him he said, "I demand vervain of thee, O king." The king replied, "Take some that is pure." The herald brought a pure blade of grass from the citadel; then again he asked the king, "Dost thou, O king, appoint me the royal delegate of the Roman people, the Quirites, and my appurtenances and attendants?" The king replied, "So far as it may be done without detriment to me and to the Roman people, the Quirites, I do so." The herald was Marcus Valerius, who appointed Spurius Fusius pater patratus,[21] touching his head and hair with the vervain.[22] The pater patratus was appointed ad iusiurandum patrandum, that is, to ratify the treaty; and he went through it in a lengthy preamble, which, being expressed in a long set form, it is not worth while to repeat. After having set forth the conditions, he said: "Hear, O Jupiter; hear, O pater patratus of the Alban people, and ye, O Alban people, give ear. As those conditions, from first to last, have been publicly recited from those tablets or wax without wicked or fraudulent intent, and as they have been most correctly understood here this day, the Roman people will not be the first to fail to observe those conditions. If they shall be the first to do so by public consent, by fraudulent intent, on that day do thou, O Jupiter, so strike the Roman people, as I shall here this day strike this swine; and do thou strike them so much the more, as thou art more mighty and more powerful." When he said this, he struck the swine with a flint stone. The Albans likewise went through their own set form and oath by the mouth of their own dictator and priests.

The treaty being concluded, the twin-brothers, as had been agreed, took arms. While their respective friends exhorted each party, reminding them that their country's gods, their country and parents, all their fellow-citizens both at home and in the army, had their eyes then fixed on their arms, on their hands, being both naturally brave, and animated by the shouts and exhortations of their friends, they advanced into the midst between the two lines. The two armies on both sides had taken their seats in front of their respective camps, free rather from danger for the moment than from anxiety: for sovereign power was at stake, dependent on the valour and fortune of so few. Accordingly, therefore, on the tip-toe of expectation, their attention was eagerly fixed on a spectacle far from pleasing. The signal was given: and the three youths on each side, as if in battle array, rushed to the charge with arms presented, bearing in their breasts the spirit of mighty armies. Neither the one nor the other heeded their personal danger, but the public dominion or slavery was present to their mind, and the thought that the fortune of their country would be such hereafter as they themselves should have made it. Directly their arms clashed at the first encounter, and their glittering swords flashed, a mighty horror thrilled the spectators; and, as hope inclined to neither side, voice and breath alike were numbed. Then having engaged hand to hand, when now not only the movements of their bodies, and the indecisive brandishings of their arms and weapons, but wounds also and blood were seen, two of the Romans fell lifeless, one upon the other, the three Albans being wounded. And when the Alban army had raised a shout of joy at their fall, hope had entirely by this time, not however anxiety, deserted the Roman legions, breathless with apprehension at the dangerous position of this one man, whom the three Curiatii had surrounded. He happened to be unhurt, so that, though alone he was by no means a match for them all together, yet he was full of confidence against each singly. In order therefore to separate their attack, he took to flight, presuming that they would each pursue him with such swiftness as the wounded state of his body would permit. He had now fled a considerable distance from the place where the fight had taken place, when, looking back, he perceived that they were pursuing him at a great distance from each other, and that one of them was not far from him. On him he turned round with great fury, and while the Alban army shouted out to the Curiatii to succour their brother, Horatius by this time victorious, having slain his antagonist, was now proceeding to a second attack. Then the Romans encouraged their champion with a shout such as is wont to be raised when men cheer in consequence of unexpected success; and he hastened to finish the combat. Wherefore before the other, who was not far off, could come up to him, he slew the second Curiatius also. And now, the combat being brought to equal terms, one on each side remained, but unequally matched in hope and strength. The one was inspired with courage for a third contest by the fact that his body was uninjured by a weapon, and by his double victory: the other dragging along his body exhausted from his wound, exhausted from running, and dispirited by the slaughter of his brothers before his eyes, thus met his victorious antagonist. And indeed there was no fight. The Roman, exulting, cried: "Two I have offered to the shades of my brothers: the third I will offer to the cause of this war, that the Roman may rule over the Alban." He thrust his sword down from above into his throat, while he with difficulty supported the weight of his arms, and stripped him as he lay prostrate. The Romans welcomed Horatius with joy and congratulations; with so much the greater exultation, as the matter had closely bordered on alarm. They then turned their attention to the burial of their friends, with feelings by no means the same: for the one side was elated by the acquisition of empire, the other brought under the rule of others: their sepulchres may still be seen in the spot where each fell; the two Roman in one place nearer Alba, the three Alban in the direction of Rome, but situated at some distance from each other, as in fact they had fought.

Before they departed from thence, when Mettius, in accordance with the treaty which had been concluded, asked Tullus what his orders were, he ordered him to keep his young men under arms, for he intended to employ them, if a war should break out with the Veientes. After this both armies were led away to their homes. Horatius marched in front, carrying before him the spoils of the three brothers: his maiden sister, who had been betrothed to one of the Curiatii, met him before the gate Capena;[23] and having recognised on her brother's shoulders the military robe of her betrothed, which she herself had worked, she tore her hair, and with bitter wailings called by name on her deceased lover. The sister's lamentations in the midst of his own victory, and of such great public rejoicings, raised the ire of the hot-tempered youth. So, having drawn his sword, he ran the maiden through the body, at the same time reproaching her with these words: "Go hence with thy ill-timed love to thy spouse, forgetful of thy brothers that are dead, and of the one who survives—forgetful of thy country. So fare every Roman woman who shall mourn an enemy." This deed seemed cruel to the fathers and to the people; but his recent services outweighed its enormity. Nevertheless he was dragged before the king for judgment. The king, however, that he might not himself be responsible for a decision so melancholy, and so disagreeable in the view of the people, or for the punishment consequent on such decision, having summoned an assembly of the people, declared, "I appoint, according to law, duumvirs to pass sentence on Horatius for treason." The law was of dreadful formula. "Let the duumvirs pass sentence for treason. If he appeal from the duumvirs, let him contend by appeal; if they shall gain the cause, let the lictor cover his head, hang him by a rope on the accursed tree, scourge him either within the pomerium,[24]or without the pomerium." The duumvirs appointed in accordance with this decision, who did not consider that, according to that law, they could acquit the man even if innocent, having condemned him, then one of them said: "Publius Horatius, I judge thee guilty of treason. Lictor, bind his hands." The lictor had approached him, and was commencing to fix the rope round his neck. Then Horatius, on the advice of Tullus, a merciful interpreter of the law, said, "I appeal." Accordingly the matter was contested before the people as to the appeal. At that trial the spectators were much affected, especially on Publius Horatius the father declaring that he considered his daughter to have been deservedly slain; were it not so, that he would by virtue of his authority as a father have inflicted punishment on his son. He then entreated them that they would not render him childless, one whom but a little while ago they had beheld blessed with a fine progeny. During these words the old man, having embraced the youth, pointing to the spoils of the Curiatii hung up in that place which is now called Pila Horatia,[25] "Quirites," said he, "can you bear to see bound beneath the gallows, amid scourgings and tortures, the man whom you just now beheld marching decorated with spoils and exulting in victory—a sight so shocking that even the eyes of the Albans could scarcely endure it? Go then, lictor, bind those hands, which but a little while since, armed, won sovereignty for the Roman people. Go, cover the head of the liberator of this city: hang him on the accursed tree: scourge him, either within the pomerium, so it be only amid those javelins and spoils of the enemy, or without the pomerium, so it be only amid the graves of the Curiatii. For whither can you lead this youth, where his own noble deeds will not redeem him from such disgraceful punishment?" The people could not withstand either the tears of the father, or the spirit of the son, the same in every danger, and acquitted him more from admiration of his bravery, than on account of the justice of his cause. But that so clear a murder might be at least atoned for by some expiation, the father was commanded to expiate the son's guilt at the public charge. He, having offered certain expiatory sacrifices, which were ever after continued in the Horatian family, and laid a beam across the street, made the youth pass under it, as under the yoke, with his head covered. This beam remains even to this day, being constantly repaired at the public expense; it is called Sororium Tigillum (Sister's Beam). A tomb of square stone was erected to Horatia in the spot where she was stabbed and fell.

However, the peace with Alba did not long continue. The dissatisfaction of the populace at the fortune of the state having been intrusted to three soldiers, perverted the wavering mind of the dictator; and since straightforward measures had not turned out well, he began to conciliate the affections of the populace by treacherous means. Accordingly, as one who had formerly sought peace in time of war, and was now seeking war in time of peace, because he perceived that his own state possessed more courage than strength, he stirred up other nations to make war openly and by proclamation: for his own people he reserved the work of treachery under the show of allegiance. The Fidenates, a Roman colony,[26] having taken the Veientes into partnership in the plot, were instigated to declare war and take up arms under a compact of desertion on the part of the Albans. When Fidenae had openly revolted, Tullus, after summoning Mettius and his army from Alba, marched against the enemy. When he crossed the Anio, he pitched his camp at the conflux of the rivers.[27] Between that place and Fidenae, the army of the Veientes had crossed the Tiber. These, in the line of battle, also occupied the right wing near the river; the Fidenates were posted on the left nearer the mountains. Tullus stationed his own men opposite the Veientine foe; the Albans he posted to face the legion of the Fidenates. The Alban had no more courage than loyalty. Therefore neither daring to keep his ground, nor to desert openly, he filed off slowly to the mountains. After this, when he supposed he had advanced far enough, he led his entire army uphill, and still wavering in mind, in order to waste time, opened his ranks. His design was, to direct his forces to that side on which fortune should give success. At first the Romans who stood nearest were astonished, when they perceived their flanks were exposed by the departure of their allies; then a horseman at full gallop announced to the king that the Albans were moving off. Tullus, in this perilous juncture, vowed twelve Salii and temples to Paleness and Panic. Rebuking the horseman in a loud voice, so that the enemy might hear him plainly, he ordered him to return to the ranks, that there was no occasion for alarm; that it was by his order that the Alban army was being led round to fall on the unprotected rear of the Fidenates. He likewise commanded him to order the cavalry to raise their spears aloft; the execution of this order shut out the view of the retreating Alban army from a great part of the Roman infantry. Those who saw it, believing that it was even so, as they had heard from the king, fought with all the greater valour. The alarm was transferred to the enemy; they had both heard what had been uttered so loudly, and a great part of the Fidenates, as men who had mixed as colonists with the Romans, understood Latin. Therefore, that they might not be cut off from the town by a sudden descent of the Albans from the hills, they took to flight. Tullus pressed forward, and having routed the wing of the Fidenates, returned with greater fury against the Veientes, who were disheartened by the panic of the others: they did not even sustain his charge; but the river, opposed to them in the rear, prevented a disordered flight. When their flight led thither, some, shamefully throwing down their arms, rushed blindly into the river; others, while lingering on the banks, undecided whether to fight or flee, were overpowered. Never before was a more desperate battle fought by the Romans.

Then the Alban army, which had been a mere spectator of the fight, was marched down into the plains. Mettius congratulated Tullus on his victory over the enemy; Tullus on his part addressed Mettius with courtesy. He ordered the Albans to unite their camp with that of the Romans, which he prayed heaven might prove beneficial to both; and prepared a purificatory sacrifice for the next day. As soon as it was daylight, all things being in readiness, according to custom, he commanded both armies to be summoned to an assembly. The heralds, beginning at the farthest part of the camp, summoned the Albans first. They, struck also with the novelty of the thing, in order to hear the Roman king deliver a speech, crowded next to him. The Roman forces, under arms, according to previous arrangement, surrounded them; the centurions had been charged to execute their orders without delay. Then Tullus began as follows: "Romans, if ever before, at any other time, in any war, there was a reason that you should return thanks, first to the immortal gods, next to your own valour, it was yesterday's battle. For the struggle was not so much with enemies as with the treachery and perfidy of allies, a struggle which is more serious and more dangerous. For—that you may not be under a mistaken opinion—know that it was without my orders that the Albans retired to the mountains, nor was that my command, but a stratagem and the mere pretence of a command: that you, being kept in ignorance that you were deserted, your attention might not be drawn away from the fight, and that the enemy might be inspired with terror and dismay, conceiving themselves to be surrounded on the rear. Nor is that guilt, which I now complain of, shared by all the Albans. They merely followed their leader, as you too would have done, had I wished to turn my army away to any other point from thence. It is Mettius there who is the leader of this march: it is Mettius also who the contriver of this war is: it is Mettius who is the violator of the treaty between Rome and Alba. Let another hereafter venture to do the like, if I do not presently make of him a signal example to mankind." The centurions in arms stood around Mettius: the king proceeded with the rest of his speech as he had commenced: "It is my intention, and may it prove fortunate, happy, and auspicious to the Roman people, to myself, and to you, O Albans, to transplant all the inhabitants of Alba to Rome, to grant your commons the rights of citizenship, to admit your nobles into the body of senators, to make one city, one state: as the Alban state after being one people was formerly divided into two, so let it now again become one." On hearing this the Alban youth, unarmed, surrounded by armed men, although divided in their sentiments, yet under pressure of the general apprehension maintained silence. Then Tullus proceeded: "If, Mettius Fufetius, you were capable of learning fidelity, and how to observe treaties, I would have suffered you to live and have given you such a lesson. But as it is, since your disposition is incurable, do you at any rate by your punishment teach mankind to consider those obligations sacred, which have been violated by you? As therefore a little while since you kept your mind divided between the interests of Fidenae and of Rome, so shall you now surrender your body to be torn asunder in different directions." Upon this, two chariots drawn by four horses being brought up, he bound Mettius stretched at full length to their carriages: then the horses were driven in different directions, carrying off his mangled body on each carriage, where the limbs had remained hanging to the cords. All turned away their eyes from so shocking a spectacle. That was the first and last instance among the Romans of a punishment which established a precedent that showed but little regard for the laws of humanity. In other cases we may boast that no other nation has approved of milder forms of punishment.[28]

Meanwhile the cavalry had already been sent on to Alba, to transplant the people to Rome. The legions were next led thither to demolish the city. When they entered the gates, there was not indeed such a tumult or panic as usually prevails in captured cities, when, after the gates have been burst open, or the walls levelled by the battering-ram, or the citadel taken by assault, the shouts of the enemy and rush of armed men through the city throws everything into confusion with fire and sword: but gloomy silence and speechless sorrow so stupefied the minds of all, that, through fear, paying no heed as to what they should leave behind, what they should take with them, in their perplexity, making frequent inquiries one of another, they now stood on the thresholds, now wandering about, roamed through their houses, which they were destined to see then for the last time. When now the shouts of the horsemen commanding them to depart became urgent, and the crash of the dwellings which were being demolished was heard in the remotest parts of the city, and the dust, rising from distant places, had filled every quarter as with a cloud spread over them; then, hastily carrying out whatever each of them could, while they went forth, leaving behind them their guardian deity and household gods,[29] and the homes in which each had been born and brought up, an unbroken line of emigrants soon filled the streets, and the sight of others caused their tears to break out afresh in pity for one another: piteous cries too were heard, of the women more especially, as they passed by their revered temples now beset with armed men, and left their gods as it were in captivity. After the Albans had evacuated the town, the Roman soldiery levelled all the public and private buildings indiscriminately to the ground, and a single hour consigned to destruction and ruin the work of four hundred years, during which Alba had stood. The temples of the gods, however—for so it had been ordered by the king—were spared.

In the meantime Rome increased by the destruction of Alba. The number of citizens was doubled. The Coelian Mount was added to the city, and, in order that it might be more thickly populated, Tullus selected it as a site for his palace, and subsequently took up his abode there. The leading men of the Albans he enrolled among the patricians, that that division of the state also might increase, the Tullii, Servilii, Quinctii, Geganii, Curiatii, Cloelii; and as a consecrated place of meeting for the order thus augmented by himself he built a senate-house, which was called Hostilia[30] even down to the time of our fathers. Further, that all ranks might acquire some additional strength from the new people, he chose ten troops of horsemen from among the Albans: he likewise recruited the old legions, and raised new ones, by additions from the same source. Trusting to this increase of strength, Tullus declared war against the Sabines, a nation at that time the most powerful, next to the Etruscans, in men and arms. On both sides wrongs had been committed, and satisfaction demanded in vain. Tullus complained that some Roman merchants had been seized in a crowded market near the temple of Feronia:[31] the Sabines that some of their people had previously taken refuge in the asylum, and had been detained at Rome. These were put forward as the causes of the war. The Sabines, well aware both that a portion of their strength had been settled at Rome by Tatius, and that the Roman power had also been lately increased by the accession of the Alban people, began, in like manner, to look around for foreign aid themselves. Etruria was in their neighbourhood; of the Etruscans the Veientes were the nearest. From thence they attracted some volunteers, whose minds were stirred up to break the truce, chiefly in consequence of the rankling animosities from former wars. Pay also had its weight with some stragglers belonging to the indigent population. They were assisted by no aid from the government, and the loyal observation of the truce concluded with Romulus was strictly kept by the Veientes: with respect to the others it is less surprising. While both sides were preparing for war with the utmost vigour, and the matter seemed to turn on this, which side should first commence hostilities, Tullus advanced first into the Sabine territory. A desperate battle took place at the wood called Malitiosa, in which the Roman army gained a decisive advantage, both by reason of the superior strength of their infantry, and also, more especially, by the aid of their cavalry, which had been recently increased. The Sabine ranks were thrown into disorder by a sudden charge of the cavalry, nor could they afterward stand firm in battle array, or retreat in loose order without great slaughter.

After the defeat of the Sabines, when the government of Tullus and the whole Roman state enjoyed great renown, and was highly flourishing, it was announced to the king and senators, that it had rained stones on the Alban Mount. As this could scarcely be credited, on persons being sent to investigate the prodigy, a shower of stones fell from heaven before their eyes, just as when balls of hail are pelted down to the earth by the winds. They also seemed to hear a loud voice from the grove on the summit of the hill, bidding the Albans perform their religious services according to the rites of their native country, which they had consigned to oblivion, as if their gods had been abandoned at the same time as their country; and had either adopted the religious rites of Rome, or, as often happens, enraged at their evil destiny, had altogether renounced the worship of the gods. A festival of nine days was instituted publicly by the Romans also on account of the same prodigy, either in obedience to the heavenly voice sent from the Alban Mount—for that, too, is reported—or by the advice of the soothsayers. Anyhow, it continued a solemn observance, that, whenever a similar prodigy was announced, a festival for nine days was observed. Not long after, they were afflicted with an epidemic; and though in consequence of this there arose an unwillingness to serve, yet no respite from arms was given them by the warlike king, who considered besides that the bodies of the young men were more healthy when on service abroad than at home, until he himself also was attacked by a lingering disease. Then that proud spirit and body became so broken, that he, who had formerly considered nothing less worthy of a king than to devote his mind to religious observances, began to pass his time a slave to every form of superstition, important and trifling, and filled the people's minds also with religious scruples. The majority of his subjects, now desiring the restoration of that state of things which had existed under King Numa, thought that the only chance of relief for their diseased bodies lay in grace and compassion being obtained from the gods. It is said that the king himself, turning over the commentaries of Numa, after he had found therein that certain sacrifices of a secret and solemn nature had been performed to Jupiter Elicius, shut himself up and set about the performance of those solemnities, but that that rite was not duly undertaken or carried out, and that not only was no heavenly manifestation vouchsafed to him, but he and his house were struck by lightning and burned to ashes, through theanger of Jupiter, who was exasperated at the ceremony having been improperly performed.[32] Tullus reigned two-and-thirty years with great military renown.

On the death of Tullus, according to the custom established in the first instance, the government devolved once more upon the senate, who nominated an interrex; and on his holding the comitia, the people elected Ancus Marciusking. The fathers ratified the election. Ancus Marcius was the grandson of King Numa Pompilius by his daughter. As soon as he began to reign, mindful of the renown of his grandfather, and reflecting that the last reign, glorious as it had been in every other respect, in one particular had not been adequately prosperous, either because the rites of religion had been utterly neglected, or improperly performed, and deeming it of the highest importance to perform the public ceremonies of religion, as they had been instituted by Numa, he ordered the pontiff, after he had recorded them all from the king's commentaries on white tables, to set them up in a public place. Hence, as both his own subjects, and the neighbouring nations desired peace, hope was entertained that the king would adopt the conduct and institutions of his grandfather. Accordingly, the Latins, with whom a treaty had been concluded in the reign of Tullus, gained fresh courage; and, after they had invaded Roman territory, returned a contemptuous answer to the Romans when they demanded satisfaction, supposing that the Roman king would spend his reign in indolence among chapels and altars. The disposition of Ancus was between two extremes, preserving the qualities of both Numa and Romulus; and, besides believing that peace was more necessary in his grandfather's reign, since the people were then both newly formed and uncivilized, he also felt that he could not easily preserve the tranquility unmolested which had fallen to his lot: that his patience was being tried and being tried, was despised: and that the times generally were more suited to a King Tullus than to a Numa. In order, however, that, since Numa had instituted religious rites in peace, ceremonies relating to war might be drawn up by him, and that wars might not only be waged, but proclaimed also in accordance with some prescribed form, he borrowed from an ancient nation, the Æquicolae, and drew up the form which the heralds observe to this day, according to which restitution is demanded. The ambassador, when he reaches the frontiers of the people from whom satisfaction is demanded, having his head covered with a fillet—this covering is of wool—says: "Hear, O Jupiter, hear, ye confines" (naming whatsoever nation they belong to), "let divine justice hear. I am the public messenger of the Roman people; I come deputed by right and religion, and let my words gain credit." He then definitely states his demands; afterward he calls Jupiter to witness: "If I demand these persons and these goods to be given up to me contrary to human or divine right, then mayest thou never permit me to enjoy my native country." These words he repeats when he passes over the frontiers: the same to the first man he meets: the same on entering the gate: the same on entering the forum, with a slight change of expression in the form of the declaration and drawing up of the oath. If the persons whom he demands are not delivered up, after the expiration of thirty-three days—for this number is enjoined by rule—he declares war in the following terms: "Hear, Jupiter, and thou, Janus Quirinus, and all ye celestial, terrestrial, and infernal gods, give ear! I call you to witness, that this nation "(mentioning its name)" is unjust, and does not carry out the principles of justice: however, we will consult the elders in our own country concerning those matters, by what means we may obtain our rights." The messenger returns with them to Rome to consult. The king used immediately to consult the fathers as nearly as possible in the following words: "Concerning such things, causes of dispute, and quarrels, as the pater patratus of the Roman people, the Quirites, has treated with the pater patratus of the ancient Latins, and with the ancient Latin people, which things ought to be given up, made good, discharged, which things they have neither given up, nor made good, nor discharged, declare," says he to him, whose opinion he asked first, "what think you?" Then he replies: "I think that they should be demanded by a war free from guilt and regularly declared; and accordingly I agree, and vote for it." Then the others were asked in order, and when the majority of those present expressed the same opinion, war was agreed upon. It was customary for the fetialis to carry in his hand a spear pointed with steel, or burned at the end and dipped in blood, to the confines of the enemy's country, and in presence of at least three grown-up persons, to say, "Forasmuch as the states of the ancient Latins, and the ancient Latin people, have offended against the Roman people of the Quirites, forasmuch as the Roman people of the Quirites have ordered that there should be war with the ancient Latins, and the senate of the Roman people, the Quirites, have given their opinion, agreed, and voted that war should be waged with the ancient Latins, on this account I and the Roman people declare and wage war on the states of the ancient Latins, and on the ancient Latin people." Whenever he said that, he used to hurl the spear within their confines. After this manner at that time satisfaction was demanded from the Latins, and war proclaimed: and posterity has adopted that usage.